Religions

Where the faiths part from Christ

The Bible traces a single line of true worship, from creation through Abraham and Israel to the Messiah. This section follows that line in order and marks, plainly, where each major faith diverges from faith in Jesus Christ.

Start at the trunk: Christianity Back to Genesis

One line, one Lord

From the beginning there is one Creator and one true worship. Scripture follows a single covenant line: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Israel, and at last the Messiah. Christianity is not a branch off that line; it is the line reaching its goal in Jesus Christ, the promised seed who was crucified and raised.

Every other faith on this page is defined by the point at which it departs from Him. The question that sorts them is not which came first, but what each does with Jesus: who He is, whether He died and rose, and whether His word is received.

The line, and where it splinters

  1. In the beginning · Genesis 1-3

    Creation and the first promise

    One God creates all things. After the fall, Genesis 3:15 gives the first promise of a redeemer, the seed of the woman who will crush the serpent.

  2. c. 2000 BC · Genesis 12

    Abraham and the covenant

    God calls Abraham and promises to bless all nations through his offspring. The line narrows to one covenant family.

  3. c. 1400s BC · Exodus 19-20

    Israel and the Law

    At Sinai, Israel becomes a covenant people with the Law, the temple, and the prophets, all pointing forward to the Messiah still to come.

  4. c. 4 BC to AD 33 · the Gospels

    Jesus Christ, the fulfillment

    The promised Messiah comes: God the Son, born in the line of Abraham and David, crucified for sinners and raised on the third day. This is the goal the whole line was moving toward.

    Judaism diverges · c. AD 30 Israel's Scriptures, covenants, and hope are held fast, but Jesus is not received as the promised Messiah and Son of God. The line stops at the threshold of its own fulfillment and continues to await a Messiah still to come. Read more

  5. AD 33 onward · Acts 2

    The Church and the nations

    At Pentecost the gospel goes out to the world. Believing Jews and Gentiles together become the people of God, grafted into the covenant line (Romans 11).

    Islam diverges · 7th century AD Roughly 600 years later, Muhammad teaches a faith that honors Jesus as a prophet but denies that He is the Son of God, denies His death on the cross and His resurrection, and places the Qur'an above the Bible. Read more

The three faiths in detail

Christianity

The trunk: the biblical line reaching its goal in Jesus Christ, crucified and risen.

Judaism

The covenant stock that keeps the Old Testament but does not receive Jesus as Messiah.

Islam

A 7th-century branch that honors Jesus as prophet but denies His deity, cross, and resurrection.

Outside the biblical line

Faiths such as Hinduism and Buddhism arose in India, apart from the Genesis and Abraham storyline. Because they do not branch from the biblical line, they are not traced here. This section follows only the faiths with a genuine origin on that line.